On our walk to campus this morning Chuck and I stopped at the bakery and picked up a couple of Tican doughnuts. The students all wanted one when we got there and I would gladly have bought a dozen but that would have run the neighborhood out of doughnuts on a Saturday and that seems cruel.
Today we got on our tour bus and headed to Braulio Carrillo National Park. This park is very large and spans several biomes; the one we saw was the tropical rain forest. We rode a tram across the rain forest canopy and saw lots of butterflies and birds. It was green and lush, shades of Jurrasic Park! After riding the tram we hiked in the forest and our group saw an anteater and an eyelash viper; both were surprisingly close to the trail. When the guide says stay close to him, he's not joking!
This is market day in Costa Rica and we stopped at a farmer's market in a small town. Chuck and I had asked Ana about the different types of tropical fruits we've been seeing. We needed someone to teach us what they are called and how to eat them. So the entire group trooped around the market, learning about the different fruits and tasting the ones that could be peeled. Chuck, Ana and I bought bags of food to share later (after washing them).
Christine and Liz enjoying Guanabana....
I'm not sure Lindsay really wanted to taste a Mamonchine. It's a small red fruit that was really sort of hairy on the outside, this photo doesn't do it justice. You peel off the red, hairy rind and eat the squishy clear, white insides...it's sweet and perhaps one of my favorites from the entire taste testing.
An aside: We've been here an entire week today and I feel like I'm really getting to know the students. I'm so impressed by all of them; they are bright, interested and interesting people. None of us has gotten any Montezuma's revenge (knock on wood) and everyone seems to be in excellent health. I think everyone is enjoying thier host families. What a great week.
- Pat
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